Psychiatric nurses' experiences of patient violence on acute psychiatric units in Turkey: a qualitative study

Previous research has found that nurses working in psychiatric clinics in an environment where patient violence is common due to patient-nurse interactions. Mental health nurses are often subjected to violent and aggressive behavior from patients. The experiences of assault have inflicted physical and psychological stress on mental health nurses, adversely impacting the quality of patient treatment. This study aims to explore psychiatric nurses' experiences with patient-related violence.

A phenomenological descriptive design one of the qualitative methods guided this study that included 10 semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of 10 registered nurses who self-reported experiencing patient violence within acute care inpatient psychiatry in Turkey. The data was analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis to create themes and categories within the research. The confirmability, transferability, credibility and consistency of the study were checked.

Nurses reported experiencing physical, emotional and verbal violence. Thematic analysis of interview data found five themes as well as 14 subthemes: (i) Perceived Normalization of Violence; for many nurses violence was normal, because patients are mentally sick; (ii) Contributing factors to patient violence (iii) Impact of patient violence; (iv) Ways of coping with violence; (v) Strategies to Prevent Patient Violence.

This study provides comprehensive multidimensional insights into the causes, consequences and prevention of patient violence experienced by psychiatric nurses. The descriptions of nurses' experiences of violence illustrate the severity of violence and its negative impact on nursing care. Patient violence can be minimized if psychiatric nurses receive psychological support to cope with the emotions caused by the violence, focus on and address the facility's deficiencies and are trained in therapeutic interventions.